By DAVID CRUZ 

Elected officials and community stakeholders are calling for the closure of a Wakefield homeless shelter that once housed a client now charged in the shooting of its director.

That victim, Ana Charle, was shot to death on Monday, April 27, as she reportedly ran away naked from her attacker, West Spruill. The shooting has become a flashpoint over the safety of the shelter in a community that’s seen a number of shelters coming down the pipe.

At a news conference fraught with several moments of anger and disruption, elected officials painted a picture of lack of security at the shelter at 4380 Bronx Boulevard. It was set against the backdrop of the shelter, with a line of supporters for homeless shelters standing in solidarity. Charle, a Spain native who lived in Queens, worked at the site managed by Project Renewal, a nonprofit shelter provider contracted by the New York City Department of Homeless Services. She was known for having built rapport with clients, all homeless men with a majority of them suffering from mental illness.

Over the course of the last year, hundreds of 911 calls have been made from the

shelter. It created a level of vulnerability for shelter employees that went ultimately unresolved, according to officials.

“Just having beds is not going to do the job,” said Councilman Andrew Cohen, who represents the Wakefield area. “Unless these service providers insist on contracts that are real, that are tenable, that are viable, that include wraparound support services. It’s not a tenable model.”

Spruill is an ex-con with mental illness, having recently lived at the site, according to officials.

Police say Spruill, carrying a .40 Smith & Wesson, stalked Charle as she was leaving her job on Monday, luring her to her vehicle. He demanded she undress, and tied her hands. She eventually escaped, her naked body running through the streets as Spruill chased her down. He caught up with her at 4366 Bullard Avenue, shooting her at point blank. She was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

Spruill, who was also naked, was quickly apprehended and charged with 2^nd degree murder, manslaughter, and weapons possession. At his arraignment at Bronx Supreme Court on Tuesday, Spruill was reportedly disruptive to the presiding judge, ignoring his court-appointed attorney and insisting on representing himself.

The shelter has been opened since early 2014 despite objections from community

leaders not to have the shelter open from the start.

“The city deliberately withheld from us during that time was that many of the people who were going to be housed there were convicted of violent felonies, and our understanding that 40 percent of the people who reside in this shelter are convicted sex offenders,” said state Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, who represents the area. “It was a classic bait and switch.”

Much of their anger is pointed at the Wakefield section becoming a hub for more men’s only homeless shelters. At the news conference, Fr. Richard Gorman, the chairman of local Community Board 12, said that the neighborhood has seen it’s fair share of shelters when compared to other portions of the city.

Councilman Andy King, whose district neighbors the shelter, charged that the DHS assigns the homeless a specific shelter based on ethnicity.

“[DHS] said, ‘Well, we look at the demographics of a community, and if somebody fits the demographics of that community, regardless of where they come from, we place them there,” said King, adding that it often disregards the “borough of origin” policy that DHS follows when working with homeless families.

The most latest is the Mueller Center, a men’s only shelter that will house 200 beds. It’s being built on Nereid Avenue, just at the border of Bronx/Westchester County. It’s one reason why Dinowitz recommended the city “put a moratorium” on the Mueller Center.

Senate Jeff Klein, whose 34th Senate District borders the shelter, introduced a bill in Albany that mandates social service facilities engage communities before opening up a shelter.

“Nobody understands why one community has to shoulder the burden of the homeless throughout the city,” said  Klein. “To have homeless shelters within 500 feet of one another doesn’t benefit anyone. It doesn’t benefit the homeless population, it certainly doesn’t benefit the community.”

But the Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group for homeless shelter providers, said closing the shelter is the “wrong response to this tragedy.”

“Rather than taking the easy way out, we need our elected officials to contribute to real solutions,” said Mary Brosnahan, the President and CEO of Coalition for the Homeless. “That means fighting to fund more supportive housing – which is proven to help those with mental illness get the help they need to stay off the streets.  Unfortunately, even with record homelessness, Albany has sharply cut funding for supportive housing — the very solution we know can prevent future tragedies like this one.”

Project Renewal expressed its condolences through a spokeswoman, adding that “Ana was a dedicated, wonderful, and loving person.”

As for the somewhat lax security, Project Renewal said through a statement that it “did request that DHS provide additional security at the site and they did that and have since added even more security to the site.” DHS did not return emails.

The line of shelter supporters stood silent throughout the news conference. Fr. Michael Callaghan, who represented supporters, read a statement saying “this is not a day for politics.”

“It is a day to give thanks to the life of Ana, or the thousands of New Yorkers who work tirelessly every day in their commitment to end homelessness,” Callaghan said.